Inventors

www internet source code nft auction

Original Web Browser Source Code Being Auctioned as NFT

Copyrights, Internet, Inventions, Inventors, NFT, Patents / By / June 16, 2021

Tim Berners-Lee, known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, is auctioning off the source code to the original web browser as an NFT. Some find Berners-Lee’s sale of his intellectual property odd because he famously refused to patent what is clearly one of the most important inventions in history.

Invented in 1989, the “WorldWideWeb” application was the first hypermedia browser/editor, allowing users to create and navigate links between files across a network of computers.

The auction includes the original archive of dated and time-stamped files, approximately 10,000 lines of source code for the HTML, HTTP, and URI protocols that are still in use today. Also included are the original HTML documents that instructed early web users on how to use the application.

Sotheby’s, which is running the auction, compares owning Berners-Lee’s code to owning the original hand-written manuscript of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”.

"post-it notes" by Dean Hochman is licensed with CC BY 2.0

The Inventor of the Post-It Note Has Died

Inventions, Inventors, Patents / By / May 14, 2021

The inventor of the Post-it Note has died. Dr. Spencer Silver, a research chemist at 3M, was trying to create an adhesive strong enough for use in aircraft construction. Though he failed at that, his various experiments produced a reusable adhesive that stuck to and easily peeled away from surfaces.

Dr. Silver tried to get 3M to take notice of his adhesive for years. Six years after he developed the adhesive, a chemical engineer looking to develop new products showed some interest. Art Fry worked in the tape division at 3M. He was frustrated that his bookmarks in his hymnal kept falling out. So he applied Dr. Silver’s adhesive and found that it held the bookmark in place and didn’t tear the pages when it was removed. The first Post-it was born.

Executives were skeptical of the product after testing it in various markets in the late 1970s. But they were ultimately convinced when one test revealed that 90 percent of receptionist in one market would buy the product.

3M introduced Post-it Notes in 1979. The adhesive was patented in 1972. In 1993 Art Fry received a patent for a method of making the Post-it.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/13/business/spencer-silver-dead.html

Featured Image Credit: “post-it notes” by Dean Hochman is licensed under CC BY 2.0

USPTO Issues Patent No 11000000 Twitter @patentauthority Elliot Furman

United States Issues Patent Number 11,000,000

Inventions, Inventors, Patents, USPTO / By / May 11, 2021

The United States issues patent number 11,000,000 today, three years after the USPTO issued patent number 10 million.

The first patent, which was signed by George Washington, was issued on July 31, 1790 to Samuel Hopkins for a process of making potash, an ingredient used in fertilizer. By 1836, over 9,900 patents had been issued. On July 13 of that year the U.S. started numbering patents. Patent No. 1 was issued to John Ruggles for a traction wheel for steam locomotives.

Since then, patents have issued at an exponential rate.

USPTO Exponential Growth of Patents
Image Courtesy of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Patent No. 11,000,000 is for a new method for delivering, positioning, and/or repositioning a collapsible and expandable stent frame within a patient’s heart chamber.

Other interesting historical facts about patents can be found on the USPTO’s page Milestones in U.S. Patenting.

Inventor Spotlight – Garrett Brown

Inventors, Patents / By / April 5, 2021

“Captivated by innovation and storytelling as a child, Garrett Brown was many things—folk singer, car dealer, copywriter, radio personality—before he invented the Steadicam and Skycam, whose stable, gliding shots have captivated movie and television audiences ever since. At 78, with more than 50 patents, 70 films, an Oscar, and an Emmy to his name—among other impressive awards and honors—he is still inventing, this time on what could be a revolutionary new alternative to walkers and wheelchairs.”

https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/journeys-innovation/field-stories/look-out-0

The Inventor of Gore-Tex has died

Inventors, Patents / By / April 5, 2021

Robert Gore, the chemical engineer who unwittingly invented Gore-Tex, has died. He was trying to make more efficient use of Teflon by stretching it. “Everything I seemed to do worked worse than what we were already doing,” he said. “So I decided to give one of these rods a huge stretch, fast — a jerk. I gave it a huge jerk and it stretched 1,000 percent. I was stunned.”

That turned out to be a fortune-making discovery. The microporous material, which his company patented and trademarked as Gore-Tex, had exceptional qualities and myriad uses.

Further experiments led him to create the breathable, waterproof material used in numerous applications, including ski jackets, medical implants, industrial filters, packaging for biologic drugs, fuel cells for electric vehicles, uniforms for emergency responders, spacesuits, and guitar strings.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/25/science/robert-gore-dead.html